No
claim has led to more nodding heads in the UK, than the anecdote that
“Mussolini got trains to run on time by threatening to shoot
drivers”. Typical examples are in “Signal Failure: Politics &
Britain’s Railways” by David Wragg, 2004, page 117:
‘Mussolini made the trains run on time’; and John McKie, writing in
the Daily Record on 28 July 2007:’Say what you like about Benito Mussolini,
he made the trains run on time’.

It
is noticeable that no journalist nor critic quotes a traceable source. Letters
to the media requesting the source or disputing the claim are unanswered.
Contact with the Ital­ian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute failed
to confirm the claim, or identify any possible source. One person at the
Embassy said it was a myth. The Institute referred me to a University
professor, from whom no reply was received. I attempted to lay this ghost to
rest in a recent book [1], but it is still popping up.

“Mussolini
cared nothing for public opinion, which in every country was simply
manufactured by newspaper owners as he knew only too well from personal
experience”.[2]None was more
skilled in using propaganda (aka myth) than Mussolini. If UK editors
believed everything he said, more fool them.

The
reality is that, even Mussolini himself did not claim - in his 1937
autobiography - that Italian trains ran on time, much less that he was the
architect. His autobiography does not mention a threat to drivers, nor claim
that railways were reliable, but does say that he got rid of critical editors
and politicians. If he could openly admit to disposing of opposition, he would
have had no qualms about claiming his success in railway operations, by
whatever means - had that been a fact. Logic suggests that if train drivers had
been so threatened, there would have been a high incidence of absence from work
due to simulated illness, and a failure of other staff to take promotion to the
job as driver. Both would seriously delay trains.

His
autobiography mentions that he “imposed an eight hour day on all
workers”.[3]Similar action
here would have prevented traffic loss to road, and allowed railways to invest
more and further improve services. Instead of pursuing the course adopted
by Italy, UK Government had imposed an eight hour day for all railway employees
in 1919, despite protests by the companies that this, following their
iniquitous treatment during World War 1, would push many rural and secondary
companies deep into insolvency.[4] This fear was addressed by Government
forcing 123 railway companies to merge into four groups (The Big Four) in 1923,
so that the profitable companies were compelled to subsidise the rest.

Of eight biographies of Mussolini, Palla had no reference to railways.[5] Fermi’s only reference to
railways is that a new station was built in Rome to welcome and impress Hitler in
1938.[6] Blinkhorn says that
“main line trains ran on time”[7], but quotes no source and no
data.

Ridley says that the belief prevalent
among his British admirers that Mussolini had made the trains run on time
“aroused much ridicule among intellectuals”.[8]

Smith wrote that “the Italian
railway system had been run down during WW1, but had been much improved between
the Wars. The claim was advanced that Italian trains were the envy of Europe. This was an exaggeration by Mussolini who did his
best to make the train service into a symbol of fascist efficiency and managed
to conceal much that had been done before 1922 (before he became Prime
Minister). His propaganda was very successful, yet some travellers reported
that the celebrated trains running universally on time, were to some extent a
convenient myth”.

“Coal had to come by sea when, in World War II,
it ought to have come overland by rail. Only two of the nine railroads through
the Alps had been provided with double tracks and capacity was estimated to be
little more than a quarter of Italy’s
peacetime needs”.

“There was a major shortage of, in excess of
10,000 trucks in WW2, because trains running on time had become one of the
accepted myths of fascism and Mussolini had never charged anyone with the task
of planning communication in the event of war”.

“Propagandists were instructed to proclaim that Italy was ahead
in every field of endeavour - more men of genius, railways faster, ships
bigger, etc.”[9]

Bosworth’s
only references to trains or railways in his biography are that [Mussolini]
“May have made the trains run on time, as his propaganda declared, but
wars it seemed were a different matter”. By this Bosworth was referring
to the lack of war planning by this dictator, who told Hitler that he needed
17,000 trains carrying 170m tons to enable him to be able to wage war alongside
his ally Germany. The key words are “as his propaganda declared”
emphasising the unproven nature of this claim. There is no reference to any
source that substantiates this propaganda claim, despite the extensive research
by this noted author, who lists nearly 1500 bibliographical sources, a high
proportion in the original Italian language.[10]

Farrell
mentions that when Mussolini was summoned by the King to be become Prime
Minister in 1922, he told the station master at Milan that “I want to leave on time.
From now on, everything must work perfectly”. Farrell says “that
this was the origin of the joke that, at least, under Fascism, the trains must
run on time”. “Mussolini not only made the trains run on time, but
made them faster”.Nowhere in
the book is there a reference to, nor source of, anything that would
substantiate the claim that all trains were made to run on time.[11]

George Seldes [12],
states that the claim that “the trains always run on time, was parroted
as an answer to all criticisms, including lack of editorial freedom or justice.
The fascist regime made this claim to portray a country in which law and order
prevailed. An investigation covering two weeks revealed several derailments
leading to serious delays.

Seldes adds that:

it is true that the majority of big expresses run on
time - those carrying eye-witness tourists - but on smaller lines, bad rail and
roadbed conditions frequently caused delays. The Belgian Foreign Minister said
we were always kept waiting at level crossings for more than a quarter of an
hour, because the trains were never there at the times they should have been
passing”.

Pre-war Keesings
Contemporary Archives has many entries relating to Mussolini, none of which
mention the railways. There is only one pre-war reference to Italian railways
“that all main line and secondary lines are to be electrified to reduce
coal imports.” [13]

Two
books on Fascism under Mussolini do not mention railways at all. [14]

It
is pertinent to ask why there is an obsession to criticise British railways -
whether nationalised or private sector - for failing to deliver a 100% reliable
and safe service to the customer, when no other industry does so.

One
BBC commentator [15] said that the Prime Minister should concentrate on getting
trains to run on time. I phoned: “before worrying about getting trains on
time to benefit 10% of the population, could the PM look into getting buses,
planes and ships to be punctual, thus benefiting far more than rail passengers.
He could also take action to compel UK industry, traders and commerce
to fulfil their promises by the due date. Perhaps he could induce a sense of
urgency and reliability into those delivering or collecting from houses, or
calling to carry out repairs”. Needless to say, my comment was not
broadcast!